Interbridges Site, Emsworth
Proposed industrial development between A27 and railway line
Richard Jannaway

The Interbridges site is a triangle of about two acres of meadowland and scrub, currently used for grazing ponies. The site is to the east of New Brighton Road between the railway bridge in the south and the A27 bridge in the north. An application for detailed planning permission for 14 industrial units was submitted in August 2004, sparking a campaign to try and stop it just after The EMS had gone to press in September. More information.
Local campaign
A petition was organised by Peter Norvall who was able to get 120 signatures in a very few days. In addition, a public meeting organised by the ERA and attended by about 100 people, resulted in 106 individual objections being sent to Havant Borough Council. Objections raised included the destruction of wildlife habitats, which once destroyed are lost for ever. Another objection was increased traffic flow in the already congested North Street, Horndean Road and New Brighton Road areas and concerns over this have been examined in a traffic survey conducted by the ERA in November. A wildlife survey was carried out by Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre which identified several grassland indicator species. Tree Preservation Orders have been applied for on all the trees along the southern boundary. And in addition, HBC has requested Hampshire Wildlife Trust to carry out a wildlife survey of the site. This local campaigning also gave rise to two articles in The News in September.
Planning permission
Unfortunately, the site already has outline planning approval for 7 industrial units, granted in 2002 and it is therefore almost impossible for this approval to be overturned. One of the conditions set by the council in granting planning permission was that the developer would have to install traffic lights at the new junction with the industrial estate. It is not clear who will benefit from these traffic lights. Other conditions include a commuter car park for the railway station and a footpath through to Seagull Lane. Another cause for concern is that few people knew of the original 2002 planning application at the time. A local resident told the public meeting that only one small notice was posted on the corner of Sultan Road at the time. This goes to show how vigilant we all need to be.
Recent developments

The planning application was withdrawn by the applicant, at the beginning of November 2004, he is now apparently reconsidering his plans. At the beginning of December, crude clearance work was carried out on the Interbridges site with the result that a lot of the hawthorn scrub and brambles have been cleared.  Viv Williams, the owner of the site, gave reassurances that he was only clearing the brambles and scrub for grazing purposes and none of the trees on the southern boundary would be felled.
Wider implications
A more serious matter for concern is that Havant Borough Council has designated the six times bigger site between the A27 and the railway line on the western side of New Brighton Road as industrial land in its draft proposals for the Havant Borough Local Plan. This much larger site will use the same access point between the bridges on New Brighton Road as the Interbridges site.